Barrio Logan plan approved

Ship painter Thomas Jake Denson, right, hold signs with other supporters of scenario 2 for the Barrio Logan Community Plan Update as city council members enter the council chambers during a San Diego City Council meeting in San Diego on Tuesday.
Hayne Palmour IV

Ship painter Thomas Jake Denson, right, hold signs with other supporters of scenario 2 for the Barrio Logan Community Plan Update as city council members enter the council chambers during a San Diego City Council meeting in San Diego on Tuesday.

Barrio Logan, the historic waterfront neighborhood south of downtown San Diego, got a new community plan Tuesday, as the San Diego City Council voted 5-4 in a partisan split.

The plan for the 1,000-acre community with 4,300 residents seeks to reverse years of conflicts between polluting maritime industries and a relatively poor neighborhood once considered a dumping ground for unwanted uses.

“Change is very difficult,” said Interim Mayor and Councilman Todd Gloria, who voted with his four fellow Democrats in favor of the new plan. “We are untangling a mess in this neighborhood that has been there for literally decades. Residents are going to be impacted, business are going to be impacted ... Everyone is giving up a little to hopefully get a lot.”

Barrio Logan community plan at a glance

What was approved: A sweeping update to the existing 1978 plan.

What was at issue: How to fashion a buffer zone between housing and the maritime industry.

What were the alternatives: The staff plan would have allowed residences, schools and other uses in the area and the maritime industry agreed to no housing but protections for existing industrial uses.

What’s next: A second reading of the legislation action is normally required and opponents have 30 days to gather about 34,000 signatures to place the plan on the next ballot, most likely in June 2014. The City Council could rescind its action and wait a year to adopt a new plan. California Coastal Commission approval is required.

The existing plan, adopted in 1978, allowed housing, commercial and industrial on the same blocks, leading to numerous complaints about pollution and health issues among residents. The new plan seeks to improve the residential blocks while preserving the shipyards that service the Navy and commercial shipping. Both residents and industry wanted to provide a buffer zone, but differed on the details.

Barrio Logan’s Councilman David Alvarez, who is running for mayor, won approval from his four fellow Democrats to ban residential uses in the five-block buffer zone — bounded roughly by Newton Avenue and Evans, Main and 28th streets — where maritime industries currently dominate. But his proposal also would permit only commercial uses, even though existing industrial uses could remain. The thinking is that over the few decades, some of those might relocate and be replaced by businesses more compatible to nearby housing blocks.

But the plan did not please the big shipyards and maritime industries located in the barrio, and their leaders have threatened to mount a referendum campaign that could lead to a citywide vote next June. The California Coastal Commission also needs to weigh in on the plan before it takes effect — and that could take a year or more, assuming a referendum does not take place.

“We view the plan as a direct and grave threat to our businesses,” said Bob Kilpatrick, vice president and general manager of BAE Systems, one of three shipbuilders on the Barrio Logan waterfront.

He and other industry representatives said they supported the general goal of a buffer zone. But they expressed concern that suppliers might not be able to change and grow under the new zoning conditions that were adopted along with the new community plan.